Room 102 Updates...

I took a hiatus last week from my blog since I spent Saturday at Medfield Day.  I walked with a younger teacher from the Medfield Teachers' booth to Starbucks and stopped to chat with people along the way. She said to me, "At this rate, we'll never get there."  I responded with, "This is what happens when you teach here for 20+ years."

Our Medfield Teachers' Association booth
Our class had 3 lucky winners!
Congrats to Lottie and Eily on winning book baskets and to Owen for winning the Warrior sign!
And to explain FAIRNESS I didn't pick the winners...
it was Mr. Mason from Dale Street who drew the winners! 

My triad- Mr. Kuehl, myself, and Mrs. Sheehan 

Thank you for stopping in with your children to introduce yourselves. It is nice to put parents and students' faces together!  

We finished our first chapter book read aloud, All About Sam.  If you are looking for a book to read together at home, I recommend Attaboy, Sam.  It is a sequel to the book we finished and is filled with more great Sam adventures! 

This is definitely worth a read!

Oh, by the way, our new book is called Jack Plank Tells Tales.  Jack is an out of work pirate looking for a new direction in life.  ASK your 3rd GRADER about the book and the CHARACTER!

In Writing... we celebrated our Writing New Year.  

Happy Writing New Year! 

Just like New Year's Resolutions... we made Writing Resolutions! Some students vowed to write more on a page. Others were going to use more interesting words in their writing.  Others decided they would work on the neatness of their writing.  

We started with writing about a person. Using our lists of people, places, and events will be SURE to have topics to write about when writing time starts.  We talked about building our WRITING STAMINA.  That means writing FAST and FURIOUS during our writing workshop time. 

MATH is going well.  We are working on reviewing concepts taught in Grade 2 and learning about multiplication and division! The other day we worked on SKIP COUNTING.  They didn't know it then, but when they were learning to skip count back in kindergarten, they were learning about multiplication! 

We have been building arrays, using repeated addition, and writing equations to solve multiplication and division problems.  

One way to remind your child about multiplication is that the "X" means "groups of".  So that means that 6 X 5 is equal to 6 groups of 5.  

6 X 5 = 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5

We also worked on writing our own STORY PROBLEMS.  Our lesson reviewed the idea that story problems can be written with 3 sentences.  The first sentence provides a piece of information.  The second sentence provides more information.  The final sentence asks a question.  

Writing their own story problems is a HIGHER LEVEL thinking skill and it isn't always easy.  We will be writing and solving these next week as well. 

SOCIAL STUDIES: 

There were many Native American tribes living
right here in Massachusetts. 

Wampanoags!  Did you love our wetus?  Did you ask questions about what they are?  Students learned that Native Americans, such as the Wampanoag tribe, lived their lives by the seasons.  Spring and summer were spent near the water.  When the fall came, tribes moved away from the water and into the forests.  Everything they needed they took from the land... the homes they built, the food they ate, and the clothes they wore.  But the Native Americans also showed great respect for the land.  They thanked the animals they killed for their lives and celebrated their harvest with song and dance.  

Wetus' frames were made from saplings of trees
and then covered with bark from trees. 

Up next... the PILGRIMS

We discussed what we ALREADY thought
we knew about the Pilgrims.  Our background knowledge
is called our SCHEMA. 

Here are some things we KNEW...

• They came from England.
• They wanted to be able to worship God in their own way.
• They came here on the Mayflower. 
• Someone knew they had another boat that leaked! 
• They came here in 1620.  

Then we started reading... 

The TABLE of CONTENTS in this INFORMATIONAL text is ALL QUESTIONS! 

We read about.... Who were the pilgrims?  Why did they leave England?  Where did they go?

Ask you child to tell you 3 things about the PILGRIMS! 

On Tuesday, we have an interpreter coming from Plimoth Plantation who will ACT as a pilgrim from 1627!  We will learn about the journey on board the Mayflower and what life was like in Plimoth for these early settlers!  

SPELLING

We have had two weeks of spelling.  We have looked at OPEN and CLOSED syllables.  We reviewed what a syllable is.  We listed vowels versus consonants and we spent time CLAPPING out syllables in words.  Some of our friends still need some practice with this.  One activity we did this week was a OPEN or CLOSED syllable sort.  Students were put in pairs to read, clap, divide, and sort the words.  Knowing syllables and listening for sounds in syllables can help students with their everyday spelling.  

Read it! 

Clap it! 

Divide it... and SORT! 

Many students were still working on their address this week. Those who CORRECTLY write their address, will get a congratulatory post card in the mail!

 

Check your mailbox!

We ended our day on Friday with a school wide assembly about being a bucket filler.  Mrs. Johnson, our school psychologist, shared the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? as a reminder to be the best person you can be... at school and at home.  

Finally, thank you for coming to our P.I.N. Night!  It was great to meet all of you.  If you any further questions about third grade, be sure to send me an email.  

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So Much to Learn

Starting a new school year is so busy.  Students have to learn names of their classmates, classroom rules and expectations, where to turn in homework, where to sit at lunch, new special schedules, and how to navigate their way around the classroom.  It isn't always easy.  But this group is doing a great job.  I have complimented many times this week.  

So What Have We Been Doing?   A lot!  

Twice a week for Morning Work, I ask students to answer questions in a response journal.  Questions range in topic to questions about themselves to thoughts about school, to characters we are reading about during read aloud.  I start the year asking personal questions so that we can learn more about one another.  After writing, we have a time to share. I encourage everyone to share and talk about our classroom as being a safe learning environment.  This week, we wrote about our bedrooms and where we fall in our family order. We have 12 oldest children, 2 middles, 8 youngest, and one only child.  Be sure to check out your child's journal at Parent Information Night.  They are delightful! 

In math, we are learning how to navigate station work so we can get our MATH WORKSHOP up and running.  Students are working in pairs, independently, and eventually with me in small groups.  We are working on new skills such a multiplication and reviewing skills such as place value and addition and subtraction within 20.  

We played Circles and Stars as we started multiplication! 

This week we reviewed rounding to the nearest 10 using 2 digit and 3 digit numbers. We are also learning new math vocabulary words and adding them to a bulletin board in the class. Some of these words include:

• factor
• product                              
• rows versus columns
• sum
• repeated addition

For reading, we are working on 20 Days to Independent Reading (a routine recommended by reading gurus Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell). Each day we discuss a new aspect of reading, such as the set up of our classroom library or how to choose books. Then there is time for students to read independently with books of their own choosing. This week I have been modeling "Reading is Thinking".  I have shared books aloud and STOPPED as I read and modeled what I was thinking about as I read.  I asked students to then do the same with their own reading.  We call this STOP and JOT.

 

It is my intent to create "Good Readers".  I use this phrase ALL THE TIME.  I love to share books and read aloud to students.  This week we started our first chapter book read aloud.  It is called All About Sam.  The author is Lois Lowry. I have read this book or a counter part, Attaboy, Sam for years and both of them are always a hit.  The class is loving this book.  Ask your child about Sam and the "pipes". It will definitely elicit more than a one word answer!  

Sam Krupnick is a baby when this book starts.
But he is growing up and getting into all kinds of mischief.  

Our social studies units in third grade are exciting.  I refer to them as the 3 Ps.... Pilgrims, Puritans, and Patriots.  We will start learning about the pilgrims shortly. But before that we are talking about WHAT history it and why we learn about it.  We use the book below as a resource. 

With this non-fiction book we toured the table of contents, found the glossary, and reviewed the first few pages which include information about our state.  These included our state flag, our state song (who knew?) and other state symbols.  We looked at some of our state symbols.  

Did you know...

• our state beverage is cranberry juice?  
• we have a state muffin?  (corn!)
• the right whale is our state mammal?

Ask your child to tell you our state dog, cat, insect, or flower!  

One way to LEARN about history is by reading. Another is ask an expert.  We can also visit a museum or look at ARTIFACTS! 

This leads to our class ARTIFACT BAGS.  Each student was asked to bring in 5 items that will help us get to know them.  We shared these on Friday afternoon.  

Chase shares a picture of he and his cousins! 

So what did we learn?  

• Andrew likes karate.
• Henry plays baseball.
• Owen collects "stuffies".
• Caroline C. does gymnastics!
• Catherine has a sister named Caroline.
• Taylor has a very cute dog. 
• Eily LOVES horses! 
• Cameron has a younger brother. 
• Sienna was a very cute baby! 
• Grace loves Cape Cod.
• Ellie likes to read. 
• Caroline H. has a sister named Catherine! 
• Bella is a good skater. 
• Ava loves frogs! 
• Kendall loves fashion!
• John likes penguins!  
• Jaxon had a picture of his cousin, his sister, and himself. 
• Chase shared his great grandfather's badge.
• Athena's brother did not like his picture taken!
• Cooper likes legos!
• Bren has 3 brothers! 
• Lottie likes ballet.
• Rizwan likes baseball. 
• Mrs. Watson loves teaching! 

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Starting Off Right!

Well, it's true. Third grade rocks!  We had a terrific start to our year together.  We have three days on the books and it is a great group.

Wednesday morning started off with us meeting outside with our new drop off procedure.  Backpacks get dropped in a line for our class and then off they go for a short bit of time to play and chat with friends. We head into the building with the 8:25 bell.  

This week we reviewed how to handle some of the routines in our classroom like hanging up backpacks, handing in notes, and where our class sits in the cafeteria.  

We also read some fun books.  I love to start the year with a LOT of read alouds.  I like to give exposure to some great books, but also work on coming in and getting used to listening.  Here are some the books we shared.  

Wallace shares his summer
adventures!

Rule #7: Never stand on
a swivel chair

Princess Elizabeth learns
an important lesson.

Charlie is in search of a home. 

We did a Classmate Scavenger Hunt to get to know our new classmates.  We had to FIND SOMEONE WHO....

• has a dog older than they are
• has a sibling in high school
• likes artichokes
• went to camp this summer
• etc.

Up and asking our classmates questions! 

Not too many artichoke fans out there! 

We had a school wide assembly this week to review the three new theme words of Wheelock School which are...

We discussed how we can follow these three themes in
our classroom, in the hallway, in the cafeteria, at recess, and on the bus! 

We played a math game called KNOCKOUT which requires a little luck, a little planning, and addition skills.  

Catherine and Bella strategize! 

Bren and Grace at play!

Eily and Kendall add up their scores!

Playing in the reading area! 

Owen and Jaxon partner up! 

Popsicle stick partners - Taylor and Lottie! 

John and Cameron are KNOCKing OUT their numbers! 

Our 1/2 day on Friday was jam packed with activities!  We did The Great Marshmallow Challenge. Boy were they curious when they read that on the AGENDA.  This is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activity our staff tried last year during a meeting.  Mr. Kuehl, Mrs. Sheehan, and I decided to try it with our 3rd graders.  

Okay, we changed the name.
But The Great Marshmallow Challenge was more exciting! 

Check it out! 

... and the timer counts on down!

The winning team received a book! (Of course!)
Winning measurement... 10 3/4 inches! 

We also did a spelling assessment and read our first edition of Scholastic News.  We watched a quick video of what the requirements are for becoming the United States President.  

We talked about election words such as:

• candidate
• ballot
• political party
• debate
• rallies

It was a great first week!  I am excited for the upcoming year! Please check back to see what's going on in Room 102.  I try to update my blog each week, but I am a BUSY teacher, wife, and mom so bear with me if it isn't always on time!  

My family on Cape Cod this summer! 

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